The Shepherd True

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I was wandering, sad and weary

Author: Frederick William Faber
Published in 47 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 I was wandering and weary
When my Saviour came unto me;
For the ways of sin grew dreary,
And the world has ceased to woo me;
And I thought I heard Him say,
As He came along His way,

Refrain:
“O silly souls, come near Me,
My sheep would never fear Me—
I am the Shepherd true,
I am the Shepherd true!”

2 At first I would not hearken,
And put off till the morrow;
But life began to darken,
And I was sick with sorrow;
Still I thought I heard Him say,
As He came along His way, [Refrain]

3 At last I stopped to listen,
His voice could not deceive me;
I saw His kind eyes glisten,
So anxious to relieve me,
I was sure I heard Him say,
As He came along His way, [Refrain]

4 He took me on His shoulder,
And tenderly He kissed me;
He bade my love be bolder,
And said how He had missed me;
Then I heard Him sweetly say,
As He went along His way, [Refrain]

5 I thought His love would weaken,
As more and more He knew me;
But it burneth like a beacon,
And its light and heat go thro’ me.
And I ever hear Him say,
As He goes along His way,— [Refrain]

Source: Hymns of Consecration and Faith #531

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Author: Frederick William Faber

Raised in the Church of England, Frederick W. Faber (b. Calverly, Yorkshire, England, 1814; d. Kensington, London, England, 1863) came from a Huguenot and strict Calvinistic family background. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and ordained in the Church of England in 1839. Influenced by the teaching of John Henry Newman, Faber followed Newman into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845 and served under Newman's supervision in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Because he believed that Roman Catholics should sing hymns like those written by John Newton, Charles Wesley, and William Cowpe, Faber wrote 150 hymns himself. One of his best known, "Faith of Our Fathers," originally had these words in its third stanza: "Faith of Our Fathers! Mary'… Go to person page >

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First Line:	I was wandering, sad and weary
Title:	The Shepherd True
Author:	Frederick William Faber
Source:	Jesus and Mary (London: 1849)
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	Wandering souls, O do come near me
Copyright:	Public Domain

John 10:14
(hymns)

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Notes

I was wandering and weary. F. W. Faber. [The Lost Sheep.] First published in his Jesus and Mary, &c, 1849, in 7 stanzas of 9 lines, and entitled, “The True Shepherd. For the Ragged School." Also found in his Hymns, 1862. It is a hymn of great beauty and pathos, admirably suited for private use, but from its peculiar quaintness cannot be popular with the general public. It is sometimes given as, "I was weary and wandering," to the manifest injury of the hymn.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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